Silverchair

Press

22-06-1997

Univeristy of the Philippines - Manilla, Philippines

All photographs by Cristina
Castillo, courtesy of Mony Romana and Sony Music Philippines.

Special thanks
to Bernice Roldan and Arlyn Romualdo.

By DAVID
GONZALES
Philippine Daily Inquirer

"It was great. The audience really
reacted well. It was wild," said Daniel Johns, vocalist, guitarist and
songwriter of world-famous Australian rock band silverchair, commenting on the
band's gig at the UP [University of the Philippines] Theater on Sunday, June
22.

Johns had many other things
to say during an interview at the Manila Galleria Suites the afternoon following
the concert.

silverchair first made
Australian headlines in 1994 when, at the age of 15, the trio won a nationwide
TV contest with the song Tomorrow. The following year, the band's first album
frogstomp, sold approximately three million copies worldwide.

silverchair's second album,
1997's Freak Show, has also done well on the charts, defying the notorious
sophomore slump that has afflicted many '90s acts whose follow-ups sold poorly
in comparison to their prior massively successful albums.

As noted in advertisements
promoting the band's concert here, Manila was the only Asian city to host a
concert by silverchair (actually it was Quezon City). That was because,
according to Johns, "This is the place where we've been selling the best (in
Asia), and getting played on the radio."

Speaking in composed, measured tones,
Johns also said the band wasn't concerned about whether or not Freak Show would
sell as well as frogstomp.

"We weren't worried about
that," he said, "we don't care about money. Anyway, Hootie and the Blowfish are
different because they depend on a lot of radio airplay, and we don't depend as
much on radio airplay. We're not just radio."

According to Johns, writing
the songs to the band's first album was more of a "friend thing," and he and
drummer Ben Gillies did much collaboration, except for three songs entirely
written by Johns (Johns writes lyrics for all silverchair songs).

On Freak Show, however,
Johns wrote over half of the album's 13 songs, and attributes that to his growth
in songwriting. Still, as on frogstomp, many of the lyrics have dark
overtones.

"On the first album, the
lyrics were more personal, with songs like Suicidal Dream. On Freak Show, I also
wrote dark lyrics. Some of it comes from real-life thinking and things, and then
you have to elaborate on it."

For example, in Freak Show's
Slave, Johns writes, "Lived too long/Now you've come to take me to/A place where
I can die/Lost my soul/Lost my confidence in me." Johns says he won't be writing
about cheerful things anytime soon.

"The dark issues I write about are
what I'm feeling at the moment, a reflection of what I'm thinking, and I won't
change the subject matter until I no longer feel this. I'd rather write about it
than take it out on everyone else."

"But I can't write songs
while on tour, there's too many distractions. I write at home, and I prefer to
be in the solitude of the house, but I also want to experience real life and get
an open frame of mind," he said.

Aside from also being a
bestseller, Freak Show has more depth and is a more varied album than frogstomp,
and contains ethnic Indian instruments on Petrol and Chlorine, for example, as
well as the beautiful use of a string section, including violins, viola, and
cello, on Cemetery.

In that regard, it resembles
Jar of Flies, an album released in 1993 by Alice in Chains, one of the best
albums of the '90s, which also utilizes a captivating use of a string section at
times. Johns acknowledges an affinity toward tender music, and said he enjoys
listening to an Australian group called Slint that also uses strings and plays
"pretty music."

Still, the bulk of Freak Show and
frogstomp are built on heavy-guitar riffing in the manner of the former Nirvana
or Soundgarden, and the riffing isn't likely to change, Johns said, though he
does envision more musical evolution for silverchair.

"Each album is more
experimental, and we're going to explore different themes and different styles
and instrumentation. We will still keep the heavy-guitar riffs on some songs,
but move away from the traditional 4/4 groove, and explore different time
signatures and odd meters," he said.

When 1995's frogstomp was
first released, it was compared to Pearl Jam, a band also heavy on
Nirvana-styled riffing at that time (Pearl Jam has since changed directions).
Johns insists, however, that silverchair's influences go back to such '70s bands
as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. "Even my dad, who really likes Pearl Jam,
said we were more like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin," Johns said.

When asked, Johns said he also likes
black American music from the '60s, most especially Otis Redding. One thing,
though, that Johns does not consider silverchair's music to be 'grunge.' "Grunge
is just a stupid word for alternative," he growled.

Being in a successful rock
band has allowed Johns to see and do many things, and one of his fondest
memories is meeting Ozzy Osbourne, the former frontman of Black Sabbath. "He's
my all-time idol," Johns enthused.

He also has memorable
memories of playing a concert in Brazil with the Sex Pistols, Bad Religion and
Mexican-American rap band Cypress Hill, where the 30,000-strong audience was
wildly "synergetic."

All this from someone who
will graduate high school, along with his bandmates, at the end of this
year.

By BERNICE ROLDAN

My friend Arlyn and I were the
first people at the UP theater, arriving there at 12:30 p.m. We heard
silverchair's soundcheck and although I couldn't really hear the guitars, I
recognized the drums from Roses. They then Slave.

Around half past 7, we were finally
allowed inside for the 8 p.m. show. We brought along presents for the band
because we really appreciated their coming to Manila. I recognized silverchair's
manager, John Watson, from a picture. We gave him the presents and talked for us
for a little while before he went to give our presents to
silverchair.

When we ran in to get our seats (we
were in the second row, away from the violent and packed mosh pit), I noticed
Watson on the stage, seeming to look for someone in the crowd. We all jumped and
waved at him and he climbed down and said to us, "I know this isn't much but we
hope you appreciate it." He handed my friend Marcia some light blue and white
guitar picks that had the silverchair banner.

Hangar 18 opened the show, then two
local bands (Wolfgang and Razorback) played before silverchair. We had seats but
everyone seemed to be standing on them, headbanging and jumping. Blown-up
condoms were being tossed around like plastic balloons, there were rolls of
tissue paper tossed onstage, and there were mineral water bottles flying around
as well.

The usual circus music was played
and the band came out. I didn't know that Daniel had cut his hair. It was above
the chin but parted in the middle and long on the back and shorter on front.
Daniel looked thin and pale. He wore black Airwalks, light blue jeans, and a
light cotton yellow shirt. Chris wore white sports rubber shoes with black
accents, short white socks, dark blue shorts and a light blue shirt. Ben had no
shirt, wore dark shorts and sneakers with no socks. They played 13 songs and the
set last just over an hour. The set list consisted of:

I was very annoyed and bewildered
that they didn't play Cemetery and Lie To Me, two of my favorite songs. Daniel
mentioned Cemetery several times, but played other songs after talking about
it.

Daniel was very witty, he said
stuff like "Manila rocks harder than any other place we have ever played in! The
place was packed, people were singing along and jumping up and down, everyone
was going nuts, they were really into the music. There were no big circles in
the mosh pit because the place was so crowded.

After Tomorrow, Daniel said in a
sing-song voice, "Man-nil-la, tastes like vanilla, someone tried to kill her,
'cos she stole my pillar!" Then he said, "That was a song called Manila, about
this girl I picked up round the corner for 15 dollars." He introduced Bailey
Holloway before Abuse Me as a guy from Black Sabbath who still rocked even
though he was old already.

Chris looked SO serious. He rarely
smiled, although he did jump every now and then. He laughed a bit when Bailey
said something to him during Abuse Me, but often he'd look over the crowd as if
surveying it.

The crowd really responded well to
Tomorrow. Maybe it was because silverchair didn't visit Manila during the
frogstomp tour. Many people were singing along and waving their arms in the
air.

Daniel did three Christ-like poses
(arms spread out horizontally, head bowed) during Slave, Roses and Pure
Massacre. The mosh was most energetic/violent during Slave, Freak and Israel's
Son. Daniel stopped chatting later in the show because there were technical
problems going on. People from the mosh pit were trying to get on the stage and
got tangled up with cables.

Daniel acted crazy during parts of
the show. He leaned his body over the crowd but they couldn't reach him, and he
drew wavy lines over the heads of the moshers with his guitar pick. During
Madman he did three quick, awkward-looking but funny punches in the air,
stomping his feet at the same time. He put his hand to his eyebrows and narrowed
his eyes and looked over the crowd as if he was looking for someone.

After Israel's Son, Daniel threw
himself over his amplifier stacks and stayed there motionless. All you could see
were his rear and the backs of his legs. Ben stood up and played drums a bit and
Chris kneeled and messed with the higher notes on his bass. I later heard that
the wooden stage in the UP theater got cracked because silverchair were really
stomping and running around.

It was a really good show and it
was nice of Daniel to say that Manila rocked! Except for the fact that some
songs were missing in the set list, it was an awesome show.